San Francisco Made This Fan Leave His Heart

MAL FLORENCE

Michael Volpe may be the vanguard of a fan revolt. In a novel action, he declared himself a free agent fan after the San Francisco Giants, a team he had supported for 36 years, traded Matt Williams, his favorite player.

Volpe wrote a form letter to major league baseball's 27 other teams in November, offering his services as a fan to the team that can best answer the question, "Why should I become a fan of your team?"

Trivia time: Besides Magic Johnson, who are the only Lakers to have worn jersey No. 32?

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Knuckle family: Phil Niekro, the newest member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, owes his trademark knuckleball to his late father.

"My father used to be a great sandlot player--a 6-2 coal miner who could throw 90 mph," Niekro recalled. "Hurt his arm somewhere along the line."

So Phil Sr. had only one pitch, a knuckleball, and that's what his son learned while playing catch in the backyard. The rest is history.

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Little league: Bernie Lincicome of the Chicago Tribune, pointing out that the NFL's final four hail from Green Bay, Wis.; Charlotte, N.C.; Jacksonville, Fla., and Foxboro, Mass.: "These teams come from places so small they have to share the village idiot."

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Kiner clone: Jayson Stark of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that the Ralph Kiner-like quote of the week comes from Cleveland's Jim Thome.

And finally: Tiger Woods hasn't been on the PGA Tour for a full year yet, but British bookmakers have made him the third favorite to top the money-winning list in 1997.

Ladbrokes, inundated with bets on Woods, has slashed his odds from 25-1 to 8-1, behind Tom Lehman and Phil Mickelson, both at 6-1, but ahead of such established players as Nick Faldo, Greg Norman, Fred Couples and Nick Price.